Anti-abortion Protesters Picket Physician

Several abortion protesters visited five Middle Peninsula counties Monday to call attention to a state health department physician they say is a "baby killer."

The protesters identified the physician as Mahlon Douglas Cannon of Hanover County.

District health director Phillip Winter said Cannon is a full-time employee of the health department, specializing in maternal and child care, who has permission to moonlight. Cannon works on his own time at two women's clinics, where "he's engaged in a legal occupation," Winter said.

Three to five protesters from Life and Liberty Ministries picketed health department offices in King William, King and Queen, Middlesex and Mathews counties. The group drove from one place to the next, starting in King William.

They displayed large placards with graphic photos of decomposing and dismembered fetuses.

In Middlesex County, the health department is next to an elementary school.

"The sheriff suggested it'd be a good idea if they weren't here when the kids came out," Winter said. The group of four men was gone when pupils left for the day.

"They've been very peaceful," Winter said of the protesters. "There's not been any problem with them as far as we're concerned."

At 5 p.m., three men from the group were standing with their placards in light snow on Main Street in Gloucester, near the courthouse circle. The health department office is on a side road nearby.

Dennis Green, leader of the group, said they are not trying to get Cannon fired. "Our intent is to see him stop killing children. . . . If it takes exposing him to his legitimate patients, then that's what we're going to do."

The two other men, John Diamond and David Lytle, are from Richmond and Lynchburg, respectively.

Green said the group picketed health departments in Essex, Northumberland and Richmond counties in December.

Winter said because the protesters have been well-behaved, there has been no reason to seek extra security.

A flier distributed by the group says Cannon is "guilty of crimes against humanity." It gives phone numbers for 10 county health departments where it says he works, and an address and apartment number for Cannon in Richmond. It asks people to "Please write to him and pray that he will seek forgiveness while there is still time."